The Leaf Method 'You Are What You Drink' new website

Hi Steepster community!! We just launched a new tea retail online store called The Leaf Method. You guys can find it here: www.theleafmethod.com. You guys get 2 free samples of your choice of 12 for each purchase. The website is totally new, so please feel free to check out the ‘About Us’ page to see what kinds of teas we sell and what our mission to bring organic teas to you guys. Email me your comments about what you think about it, and suggestions on the types of teas you’d like to see more of. Hope to see replies soon! Oh, also this is Stephen typing, the founder of The Leaf Method :)

Nice looking website. There is some really smooth technology involved in that design.

Question: You are a reseller of teas. Since I’m a tea consumer and I often buy tea online, what advantage do I get with buying those teas from you versus buying directly from the vendors themselves? I haven’t cross-referenced them, but are you cheaper, faster? What makes you better? Though I admit that I like the fact that I can try teas from various vendors from you, which is a good selling point.

Make your sales pitch, are you more convenient? There is a plus to your website design, you’ve some things going on there that the big guns in the tea industry should be thinking about.

I agree with the things that Leafbox Tea says. If you are indeed cheaper- prove it and put the comparison up. I actually like that you say where you get your tea from. I was really naive at one point so I never fathomed reselling and felt duped when I discovered that practice. HonesTEA rocks. The only thing I can see missing from your website is matcha. :)

It’s awesome to see so many responses. As you guys have found out yourselves exploring through the website, we are indeed a full retail store that sells different types of teas. Because I buy wholesale from these companies, I have more say in what I think is the better price in selling these teas (aka cheaper). One of the reasons why I chose to open a store like this was because I found different aspects of tea websites that were lacking (tea reviews, clean interface, fair trade practices, organic-certified, etc.), and decided to make one website that carries only tea brands that included these criteria.

As for the comments about the price comparisons (a personal thank you to Paul Tracy), I’ve tried to make sure that the teas we carry are by far the cheapest. I now see that there are discrepancies, specifically for some of the Rishi products, in the retail prices. But please be aware that the quantity of the teas in the tin containers are not the same as the lowest quantity being sold on the Rishi website. Even I don’t understand how Rishi Tea’s Bergamot Sage is so low, but if you see on Amazon their 2-tin product of Bergamot Sage, http://www.amazon.com/Rishi-Tea-Organic-Bergamot-29-Gram/dp/B004I03JVA, it’s for $40, or $20 for each 1 oz. tin. I’ll go ahead and contact Rishi for more information about that specific product.

Again, thanks for the replies, and I’ll get back to you guys after I receive word from Rishi. By the way, the Art of Tea guys work about 10 minutes from me, and they’re one of the nicest people I’ve met. Kudos to them for making great quality teas :)

The site looks great. Very elegant and well organized. I like the idea of being able to buy from different tea companies in one spot.

One suggestion I’d make is adding a “show all” option for browsing the different selections (having to go to the next page, repeatedly, is a turnoff for me) or allowing customers to sort not just by tea company name but by type of tea, or region (ex: in Green Tea, such options as Senchas, Flavored, Dragonwell, Jasmine…and so on). That way I could see, at one glance, all the different companies’ offerings of a given type of tea.

I think you are building a good selection of teaware (love that you’re selling the PIno Kettle, I have that and it’s great) but I would like to see more of that as well — maybe some clear mugs? People like to see the color of their tea.

Another thought: It’s helpful that you’ve got all the brands listed on one page. But if I’m not familiar with all of the brands, how do I know which ones might be of most interest to me? A short paragraph describing the brand or its focus, underneath the logo, might be useful.

I just called Rishi this morning, and the representative said their Bergamot Sage is their ‘outlier’ in terms of retail pricing because it’s so light in weight. Also they sell in a black bag, whereas we sell it in a nice packaged tin container.

Thanks Susan for your input! We actually do have a ‘View All’ option if you’d like to see all the teas on one page. If you’d like to find a specific tea to your liking on one page, I also suggest you type it in the search box on top of website.